Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,390,000 shares, a decline of 20.6% from the March 15th total of 24,430,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,080,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.71.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FITB traded down $0.83 on Monday, hitting $33.32. The company had a trading volume of 7,173,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,468,600. The stock has a market cap of $22.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.60. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $32.25 and a 1-year high of $49.07.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.10% and a net margin of 17.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. Analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, COO James C. Leonard sold 17,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total value of $761,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 244,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,820,994.62. This represents a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 21,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.55, for a total transaction of $945,035.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 130,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,698,778.80. This represents a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Fifth Third Bank, National Association that engages in the provision of a range of financial products and services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer and Small Business Banking, and Wealth and Asset Management.